Ports praise development anchored by investors’ certainty about river
The economy in Southwest Washington is already benefitting from an
as-yet-unfinished project to deepen the Columbia River’s shipping
channel, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray heard during a round-table discussion
today at the Port of Vancouver.
The $190 million project to deepen the channel from 40 feet to 43
feet will be finished by the end of this year.
Construction got under way in 2005, following almost two full decades
of planning and lobbying by ports, business interests and labor groups
along the river. Critics characterized the project as an economic
boondoggle that would harm aquatic life in the river, but proponents
told Murray today that the investment has already paid dividends.
A $230 million grain elevator is under construction in Longview.
“This project would never have happened without the promise of this
channel-deepening project,” said Ken O’Hollaren, executive director of
the Port of Longview.
The deepening project got a $29.6 million jolt of federal economic
stimulus funding to finish the job this year rather than two or three
years later.
The final piece of funding allowed contractors to use underwater
explosives to scour out three feet of hard basalt in the river bottom
between Ridgefield and St. Helens, Ore. The blasting occurred in
November through February, shattering 600,000 cubic yards of black rock.
Murray told local business and labor leaders that the deepening
project ensures the river will remain the “lifeblood” of the economy in
Southwest Washington.
“Clearly, this is going to create economic vitality in the long
term,” she said.
Eroding jetties
Protecting that channel will require a massive new investment by
Congress through the Army Corps of Engineers, however. The jetties that
protect the mouth of the river, originally constructed between 1885 and
1917, are eroding badly.
The corps estimates it will take 18 years and as much as $470 million
to rehabilitate them.
“All the work that we’ve done to deepen the channel to 43 feet could
be undone,” Murray said.
The jetties damp down waves from the ocean, while also serving as a
barricade against beach sand that would otherwise clog the shipping
channel. The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, an industry group
based in Portland, noted that the jetties protect a shipping industry
that annually hauls more than 40 million tons of cargo valued at $16
billion.
Longshoreman Cager Clabaugh drew chuckles when he noted that the
promise of a deeper channel started shortly after he started the job
after high school.
“I can see the guys starting now are going to hear, ‘We’ve got to get
the jetties fixed,’” he said. Turning serious, he added: “If a serious
breach were to happen, it’s going to kill the economy up and down the
river.”
Murray alluded to the expensive and protracted construction schedule.
“Realistically, it’s going to take a community working very, very
hard and sticking with it over a long period of time,” she said in an
interview. “This is something that takes long-term commitment from the
leadership on every level.”
Contractors conducted $30 million worth of interim repairs between
2005 and 2007.
Corps officials believe the interim repairs might have extended the
life of the jetties another 10 years, providing time to get the major
rehabilitation under way. The phased rehab project will cost close to a
half-billion dollars.
“It will be hard, it’s a lot of money,” Murray said. “It’s competing
with a lot of other projects out there, but I think the economic
implications are very clear.”
– The Columbian
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